Foxes (1980) Online

1980 Jodie Foster Cherie Currie Marilyn Kagan Adrian Lyne

Original Title :: Foxes
Genre :: Movie / Drama
Year :: 1980
Directror :: Adrian Lyne
Cast :: Jodie Foster,Cherie Currie,Marilyn Kagan
Writer :: Gerald Ayres
Type :: Movie
Time :: 1h 46min
Rating :: 6.1/10

Foxes (1980) Online

Four best friends, with four different personalities, have issues of their own. Deidre is fascinated by her sexuality and has many boyfriend problems. Madge is unhappily overweight and has overprotective parents. Annie boozes and does drugs, and runs away from her abusive father, a policeman. Jeanie has to take care of them and is fighting with her divorced mother. The only way to loosen up, and forget all the bad things happening in their lives, is to party and have fun. Jeanie is ready to grow up and wants to stop acting like a child. Annie is the worst of them all and Jeanie is worried about her the most. She risks her neck more than once trying to keep Annie clean and free from trouble. However, Annie's unstable behavior and flare ups keeps everyone on edge.

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Jodie Foster	-	Jeanie
	Cherie Currie	-	Annie
	Marilyn Kagan	-	Madge
	Kandice Stroh	-	Deirdre
	Scott Baio	-	Brad
	Sally Kellerman	-	Mary
	Randy Quaid	-	Jay
	Lois Smith	-	Mrs. Axman
	Adam Faith	-	Bryan
	Sloan Roberts	-	Loser (as Jon Sloan)
	Jill Barrie Bogart	-	Sissie
	Wayne Storm	-	Frank
	Mary Margaret Lewis	-	Gladys
	Grant Wilson	-	Greg
	Fredric Lehne	-	Bobby

Annie (Cherie Currie)'s shoulder tattoo of a cherry is real. Currie had got the tattoo during her tenure as lead singer of the rock band The Runaways in reference to their signature song "Cherry Bomb".

According to Adrian Lyne, a 17-year-old Demi Moore showed up to audition for a role.

This movie was released the same year as the similarly themed movie Little Darlings (1980) which starred Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neal. McNichol auditioned for the role of Annie in Foxes (1980) with the role going to Cherie Currie.

The Los Angeles region that the foxes hung-out in was the San Fernando Valley.

First credited role in a theatrical feature film of actress Laura Dern who played Debbie.

The original title was "20th Century Foxes" but was shortened to "Foxes" to avoid a lawsuit from film studio 20th Century Fox.

Rosanna Arquette, Diane Lane, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kristy McNichol all auditioned and/or tested for the role of Annie which in the end was cast with Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie.

According to a musician hired for the project, the original story concept centered around an all-girl rock band who was being groomed by an established female pop singer. The screenplay was rewritten so much, the band element of the story was dropped.

Debut theatrical feature film of actress Kandice Stroh, actor Robert Romanus, actress Marilyn Kagan and singer turned actress Cherie Currie. Prior to this movie, Currie was primarily known only as a rock singer.

Debut theatrical feature film directed by Adrian Lyne.

Cherie Currie revealed to E! Entertainment that one member of the cast ruined one take of a scene by grabbing Currie in an exaggerated romantic way and kissing her. Jodie Foster was not pleased with the goofing around, and ordered the set shut down until everyone could get serious again.

Star Billing: Jodie Foster (1st), Scott Baio (2nd), Sally Kellerman (3rd) and Randy Quaid (4th).

Some movie posters for this movie featured a long blurb that read: "People don't think we can have any serious emotions. Nobody gives a damn. But that's all right, I've got friends.".

According to Cherie Currie's book "Neon Angel", she and Jodie Foster got along real well. But Jodie's mother was not all that interested in Jodie making friends with Cherie.

Buddy Foster, Jodie Foster's brother and a child actor in his own right, was up for a role in this movie. They wanted him to play the love interest to his own sister. They eventually recast the love interest role and Buddy can be seen in another role. This is the only joint venture of siblings Jodie and Buddy.

The second of two movies that British producer David Putnam made with young American actors Scott Baio and Jodie Foster. The first had been the comedy movie Bagsis Maloune (1976) around four years earlier.

Robert Romanus and Cherie Currie appeared together in this movie. Thirty years later, Romanus had a small role in The Runaways (2010), a movie about the formation, success, and eventual disintegration of the band that Cherie Currie was in before acting in Foxes (1980).

The second of two movies that Scott Baio and Jodie Foster made together. The first had been the comedy movie Bagsis Maloune (1976) around four years earlier.

The movie did get nominated for a couple of awards, both for Young Artist Awards, for Best Family Music Album (United Artists) and for Best Young Actress in a Major Motion Picture for Jodie Foster, but the film did not win in either category.

Debut produced screenplay for a feature film of writer-producer Gerald Ayres.

Donna Summer's hit song "On the Radio" is heard through this 1980 movie - the piano instrumental score is a recurring motif. A disco version of the song is heard in a later scene during the house party.

The picture was "an inverted Sestadienio nakties karstlige (1977)" according to Time Out.

The second of two movies that composer Giorgio Moroder made with British producer David Putnam. The first had been Vidurnakčio ekspresas (1978) about two years earlier where Moroder had won an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Original Music Score.

Sally Kellerman has only vague recollections of filming "Foxes". She was shooting another movie simultaneously, "It Rained All Night the Day I Left", which meant several days of work in Los Angeles followed by several days of shooting in Tel Aviv, Israel. Kellerman says she spent the majority of that year flying in planes.

The soundtrack of this 1980 movie featured a song called "More Than a Feeling". Director Adrian Lyne's later film Flashdance (1983) had a hit song called "Flashdance... What a Feeling".

One of two early 1980s Hollywood movies with central teenage girl characters. The other picture was Little Darlings (1980).

Jodie Foster and Cherie Currie starred together in this movie. Foster played Kristen Stewart's mother in the crime drama Panikos kambarys (2002). Stewart would later go on to play Cherie Currie's bandmate, Joan Jett, in The Runaways (2010), a movie about the band they formed before Cherie went into acting.

Foxes (1980) was the first of three films with titles beginning with the letter "F" for director Adrian Lyne. The other movies are Flashdance (1983) and Fatal Attraction (1987).

User reviews

Xanna

Four teenage girls in a suburb of Los Angeles get into all kinds of trouble: parties, drugs, cops, mixed-up parents, older boyfriends. Jodie Foster, the group's level-headed mother hen, tries keeping everyone together "like a family" (like the family unit she's never had), and the heartbreaking thing about the movie is that she can't. Slowly, everyone grows up and goes away. THAT precise plot point, though underscored throughout, is unfortunately tampered with. Did we really need a long sequence with Scott Baio outracing a car full of thugs on his skateboard? Or an even longer sequence--also with Baio--where Foster has a strange soliloquy about pain as an illusion. Some of the dialogue in fact is downright loopy, and I didn't much care for an edit in the third act which segues clumsily from a death to a wedding. But these are nitpicks in what is basically a very sensitive story about the loss of a tight bond. And Jodie's face at the ending speaks volumes. If viewers do get choked up, the movie has earned this. The film doesn't pander for tears or ask for sympathy--it shows us an example of friendship and hopes we understand. *** from ****

Nirn

Story about four teenage girls growing up in California. Jeanie (Jodie Foster) is the most level-headed of the bunch--but wants to move out of her house where she lives with her divorced mother (Sally Kellerman). Annie (Cherie Currie) is addicted to drugs, alcohol and bad boys and is beaten up by her father. Madge (Marilyn Kagan) has overprotective parents. Deirde (Kandice Stroh) thinks she's more mature than the rest of them.

This is nothing new from what we've seen plenty of times before--but this one has one big difference--it's accurate. I graduated from high school in 1980 (when I first saw the film) and I was surprised at how realistic it was. They got the dialogue, clothes and attitudes down completely right. Even the main song of the movie ("On the Radio" by Donna Summer) was a big hit before this came out. This film hit me harder than any other teen film of the time because I could understand and relate to the characters. I knew girls in high school who were just like this! The film is (of course) dated but it captures a time we will never see again.

The acting is good on all counts with Foster giving the best performance. The relationship between her and Kellerman (who was excellent) was realistic and well-done. Even Scott Baio (who has a small role as a friend of the girls) more or less realistically played a teen boy.

A very good movie--essential viewing if you came of age in 1980. The film has a deserved R rating (plenty of drug use and swearing) but should be seen by all teens. I give it a 8.

Gosar

One of the best portrayals of being a teen in the late 70's early 80's. Jodie Foster is simply wonderful as the one who tries to hold all of her friends together through the difficult times of being a teen in Califirnia; actually this could have been set in any city. I lived this life of parties, concerts and excess during this same era. Being 44 and looking back it is like looking back into my own memories of kids I went to school with and the things we experienced. Though the look of this movie is dated, big hair, satin jackets etc, however it certainly is still relevant. Donna Summer's "On the Radio" is such a great song and is a vital part of the fabric of this move. This is movie is so much better than the teen sex farces that seemed to proliferate after this movie came out - because it is a pretty close portrayal of what being a teen at this time was like with absent parents and lots of free time.If you haven't seen it you should...

Narim

If you weren't there, then unfortunately this movie will be beyond compassion for you. Which as I say is a shame because although some of the acting is amateurish, it is meant to be for realism. Let's face it--in real life, we don't say things in an exacting or perfect way, even when we mean to. In this sense, it works. This, however, does not apply to our "known" actors in this film, notably Jodie Foster (born a natural). The fact that the other 3 girls are not accomplished only adds to the story--Jodie plays the glue that struggles to keep their friendship close, even with the obvious feeling of fatality. Meaning that no matter how close friends are, eventually there are some people that just fade away, no matter how you try.

And therein is the core of the movie. It's not about partying, it's not about sexuality, but about these 4 girls and their final time as still young girls before they have to go the world alone.

If you have ever had a friendship like that in your life, you will feel this movie--it will mean a lot to you, no matter what era it is set in, or what era you grew up in. We all knew these girls in school, or at the very least knew of them. We all knew the frustrated virgin, half wanting to hold onto childhood and half wanting desperately to grow up and thinking that will do it for her. We all knew the boy-crazy one, the fashion plate whose vanity hides her fear of the world, her fear of acceptance. We all knew the party girl, the one they whispered about, with tales of not only her sad home life but of her notorious exploits. And we all knew the "mother figure", the one a little more real, a little more grounded, a little more sad because she knew what would happen. Maybe you were one of those girls. Maybe, like me, you had been each one at one time or another...

This film really captures that fragile time in life when want, needs, pressures, womanhood, childhood, the world and loneliness are all embodied in each female's head, each factor on the precipice. Which aspect do you hang on to? What do you toss over the edge, no matter how you may want to hold on? And how painful is goodbye to everything you've known? That's what this movie is--steps into womanhood while clinging onto childhood, and how damn tough it is to keep walking. If you were there, you know...and love this film, as I do. Aching and tenderly done. A fine piece of captured femininity.

Gholbimand

I adore this movie. It is one of the best teen movies ever! Jodie Foster, Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan, and Kandice Stroh were awesome! The whole movie seems realistic, and is very interesting and thoughtful. It concerns four teenage girls struggling with problems as they live their lives in the San Fernando Valley. Jeanie (Foster) is fighting with her divorced mother, Annie (Currie) is a teen runaway who drinks and pops pills, and runs away from her abusive father. Madge (Kagan) is a young girl who is overweight and mad that she is a virgin. Plus, her parents are overprotective and she has annoying younger siblings. Then there is Deirdre (Stroh) who is not as developed as the other characters, she is basically one of their friends who likes boys and has a lot of boy troubles. I like the music, the acting, and there were some scenes that were great...the party and the ending were standout scenes. The concert scenes were funny as well. The ending is a tearjerker, but I won't give it away. See for yourself and rent or buy this great film.

Nanecele

If a person grew up in Los Angeles or the San Fernando Valley then this film interprets that life very well, especially in the late 70's very early 80's.

And who better to clarify this existence than Jodie Foster and Cherie Currie? Portraying Annie was probably no stretch for Cherie Currie who fronted The Runaways. She probably understood Annie very well.

People often dismiss the acting as amateurish. I would say not polished but how many teens have a polished act at that age? Nothing is perfect nor understood perfectly at that age. The parents here understand life but can't be understood by their teenage children. Very realistic to me. If the acting had been polished this film wouldn't work. It's the very fact that things seem slightly amateurish that makes this film believable.

The film is gritty, grimy, smoggy but also gentle, and young-slightly naive.

If you want a peek at life in LA seen through the eyes of it's youth at that time then check this out. Life had it's complications back then even without cell phones, I-pods and Blackberries.

deadly claw

Foxes is Adrian Lyne's debut movie after a successful stint in creating commercials in the 1970s.

Just like Alan Parker in Bugsy Malone, he teams up Jodie Foster and Scott Baio taking a meandering look at the friendship of four teenage girls growing up in LA's San Fernando Valley in the late 1970s as they deal with sex, drink, drugs, partying, love and growing up. Jodie Foster tries to protect them all but some are hell bent on self destruction. Giorgio Moroder provides the tinny synth music and Donna Summer sings the infectious title song 'On the radio.'

Looking at the film over three decades later it features a more grimy and seedier suburb, its still contained in the disco era where even the adult characters seem lost and screwed up. British actor Adam Faith has a cameo as Jodie's dad who is a tour manager.

Despite the on-screen talent which contains several Oscar nominees this is a rather dull and plodding film with very little point to it. The music livens it up a little as Glam rockers Angel make an appearance.

Lyne makes good use of lighting and establishes a visual look that will become popular in the 1980s.

Rare

Jodie Foster, Cherie Currie (the former lead singer of the seminal all-girl rock group the Runaways in her remarkably able acting debut), Marilyn Kagan, and Kandice Stroh are uniformly believable, splendid and touching as the titular quartet, who are a tight-knit clique of troubled, fiercely loyal adolescent girls with negligent, uncaring, self-absorbed parents who do their best to grow up and fend for themselves in the affluent San Fernando Valley, California suburbs. The girls are forced to make serious decisions about sex, drugs, alcohol, commitment, and so on at a tender young age when they're not fully prepared to completely own up to the potentially harmful consequences of said decisions. Foster, giving one of her most perceptive, affecting and underrated performances to date, is basically the group's den mother who presides over the well-being of both herself and the others; she's especially concerned about the good-hearted, but reckless and self-destructive Currie, whose carelessly hedonistic lifestyle makes her likely to meet an untimely end.

This picture offers a poignant, insightful, often devastatingly credible and thoroughly absorbing examination of broken, dysfunctional families which exist directly underneath suburbia's neatly manicured surface and the tragic net result of such families: tough, resilient, but unhappy and vulnerable kids who have to confront the trials and tribulations of growing up on their own because their parents are either too inconsiderate or even nonexistent. Adrian ("Fatal Attraction," "Jacob's Ladder") Lyne's direction is both sturdy and observant while Gerald Ayres' script is somewhat messy and rambling, but overall still accurate in its frank, gritty, unsentimental depiction of your average latchkey kid's nerve-wrackingly chaotic, capricious and unpredictable everyday life. Leon Bijou's soft, dewy, almost pastoral cinematography properly suggests a delicate and easily breakable sense of tranquility and innocence. Giorgio Moroder arranged the excellent score, which makes particularly effective use of Donna Summer's elegiac "On the Radio." The top-notch cast includes Sally Kellerman as Foster's neurotic, insecure, peevish mother, Scott Baio as a sweet skateboarder dude, Randy Quaid as Kagan's rich older boyfriend, British 60's pop singer Adam Faith as Foster's feckless, absentee rock promoter father, and Lois Smith as Kagan's smothering, overprotective mother. Appearing in brief bits are Robert Romanus (Mike Damone "Fast Times at Richmont High") as one of Foster's morose ex-boyfriends and a gawky, braces-wearing Laura Dern as an obnoxious party crasher. Achingly authentic, engrossing and deeply moving (Currie's grim ultimate fate is very heart-breaking), "Foxes" is quite simply one of the most unsung and under-appreciated teen movies made about early 80's adolescence.

Lyrtois

This is one of my all-time favorite films. Jodie Foster in 1980 once again showed in this film and the movie " Carny" in the year 1980 (when both films were released ) that she had a whole lot more of her " teen who has a huge heart and older than years approach to the world" persona especially in this film Foxes. She takes care of all of her friends including her own mother. She's the most stable of all the characters and she plays it off brilliantly. Cherie Currie, lead singer of the 70's jailbait all-girl band The Runaways stars in one of her few and most memorable roles as the charachter Annie a real drug abusive teen drinking machine who has an abusisve cop father and a mom who doesn't do anything about it. The other 2 girls are kinda forgettable as their basically in the film as either humorous charachters and to at least show that 1 of the 4 girls has to deal with losing her virginity to actor Randy Quaid in one of his first roles.Great concert scene with the late 70's early 80's band Angel and of course having Scott Baio in the film helped promote the film with his and Ms Foster being huge teen stars of this era. The ending doesn't come as a suprise even though it makes you feel bad that Jodie Foster's character couldn't help the teen girl more but if you've never seen this rent it or BUY IT!!! as this is a underlooked classic.***** out 5

Xisyaco

Adrian Lyne's "Foxes" (1980) opens with a shot of a teenage foot, a homage to the opening of Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita", a film based upon a Nabokov novel which Lyne would himself adapt in 1997. We're then introduced to Jeanie (Jodie Foster), an American teenager who hangs with her friends Madge (Marilyn Kagan), Annie (Cherie Currie) and Deirdre (Kandice Stroh). Deirdre can't get enough boys, Madge hates being a virgin and Annie repeatedly runs away from her abusive father.

"Foxes" pretends to be an "edgy" and "gritty" examination of teenage life during the Disco Era; a sort of precursor to the films of Larry Clarke. Everything about it, though, reeks of phoniness. The film's "American Graffiti" styled plot ends with our heroes making various life decisions, Madge marrying an older lover, Deirdre learning to resist boys and Jeanie, the film's voice of young wisdom, graduating from high-school. Everywhere the film's wistful subtext clashes awkwardly with its phony neo-realist surface.

6/10 – See "Ghost World".

Snowseeker

The late seventies didn't turn out enough films about the youth culture: teens not wrapped up in anti-war protests of the prior decade, but just wanting a good time, which there's not much of in this so-called character-study of four girl/friends, two played by Jodie Foster and The Runaways Cherie Currie.

Director Adrian Lyne doesn't seem interested in the kids (which includes a pointless Scott Baio with a Linus blanket skateboard), but rather, how atmospheric the lighting affects each close-up shot: which are very abundant. We never get the feeling of placement nor do we establish any distinct, or interesting, location.

And why are these girls so miserable and what they're escaping from? Other than dull conversations with their miserable parents in scenes fitting to an acting workshop, it feels more like an After School Special than a teen rebellion flick.

The music lacks the essential hard-lined energy of, say, OVER THE EDGE. The melancholy intro of Donna Summer's pop tune "On The Radio" is not only played throughout, but pops up whenever things get "deep." And Cherie Currie's wild girl character has potential, but lacks screen time and is so doomed she should have a paper taped to her back reading: BURY ME.

This ponderous melodrama starts off well: good actors and some cool Hollywood Boulevard exterior locations. But none are used for very long, and never establishes our protagonists or their destination, which is pretty much nonexistent.

For More Reviews: http://cultfilmfreakreviews.blogspot.com/

anneli

Despite the presence of the always top flight Jodie Foster, Adrian Lyne's soaper about the desperate lives of four teenage girls living in sunny but suffocating Southern California is hampered by movie of the week cliches and a meandering storyline that never really goes anywhere. Divorces, absentee parents, easy access to alcohol and drugs, and a strong dose of hopelessness and ennui drive the foxes of the title to varying levels of destruction. Unless you were at a particularly impressionable age when you first saw the film, Foxes is likely to feel too deliberate and drawn out. It is fun, however, to take a peek at the performances of Scott Baio, Sally Kellerman, Randy Quaid, Lois Smith, and Cherie Currie (my favorite, though, is Marilyn Kagan as sexually maturing Madge) as well as the histrionics of glammy rockers Angel. Added bonus: Donna Summer sings the theme "On the Radio."

Stan

"Foxes" is one movie I remember for it's portrayal of teenagers in the late 1970's. As I am exactly Jodie Foster's age, I related to this movie. It deals with the frustrations, temptations, relationships & rebellion of youth. The soundtrack is great with inspiring rock eg. "More Than a Feeling" by Boston and sad numbers like "On the Radio" by Donna Summer. The music of my late teens. Yep, I'll always remember this one, even if it wasn't huge.

CopamHuk

This is one of the best Jodie Foster movies out there and largely ignored due to the general public's misconception of it as a teen flick. It has wonderful performances, particularly a fight scene between Jodie and her mother, played by a convincing Sally Kellerman. The three girls that play Jodie's friends are somewhat amateurish but I do think it is worth seeing.

Jay

I could never stand watching Happy Days after Chachi joined the cast, so I knew I was in trouble when the best scene in this movie featured Scott Baio (a skateboard chase scene!). Jodie Foster in her first "grown-up" role turns in her usual professional performance but that is no excuse for this boring mess. Two hours out of my life that I'll never get back! No noteworthy characters, unbelievable storyline, questionable editing and horrendous cinematography but worst of all, I couldn't have cared less. The story of California teens in the 1970's, where the kids live miserable lives and all their parents are idiots. Don't waste your time watching this ugly excuse for a movie.

Yainai

This is one of the most underrated masterpieces of all time in my opinion, its thought provoking, funny and sad with amazing performances all around!. All the characters are wonderful, and the story is just brilliant!, plus Jodie Foster and Cherie Currie are simply amazing in this!. The Ending is very powerful, however I won't spoil it for you, and I thought the character development was top notch!, plus you can really relate to all of the characters, especially Jeanie and Annie, as you will be rooting for them!, plus I loved how it moved slowly, and giving you a chance to get to know all the characters and what there about. I can't believe this only has a 5.9 rating on here as it should be much higher in my opinion, and it was funny seeing Randy Quaid in this type of role, plus this is extremely well written and made as well!. One scene that really got to me was when Madge(Marilyn Kagan), is totally embarrassed by her mother for having the party, and the film has many surprising moments as well!, plus the dialog is especially excellent. This is one of the most underrated masterpieces of all time (In my opinion), its thought provoking, funny and sad with amazing performances all around, and i say Go see it immediately!, your bound to love it!. The Direction is fantastic!. Adrian Lyne does a fantastic job here, with awesome camera work, and keeping the film at an extremely engrossing pace!. The Acting is amazing!. Jodie Foster is really cute, and is amazing as always!, she was extremely likable, caring, had a lovable character, was intense in some scenes, was focused, and she and Cherie Currie were the heart of the film as Jeanie and Annie!(Foster Rules!!!!!!!). Cherie Currie is way hot, and is amazing here, i really felt sorry for her character, as she had a very likable character that just needed help, she gives a powerful performance, and created a very memorable character she was amazing!. Scott Baio is great as Brad he was really likable, and did his job well i liked him. Randy Quaid is great in his serious role surprisingly i liked him. Sally Kellerman is great as the mother i liked her a lot. Marilyn Kagan and Kandice Stroh are both very good as Madge and Deirdre, and did what they had to do well as the other two friends. Laura Dern has a very early role here, as it was cool to see her, not much of a part though. Rest of the cast do fine. Overall go see it immediately, it's an underrated masterpiece!. ***** out of 5

Vijora

Although I was born in the year that this movie came out and had never heard of it until my junior year of high school (1996) when I saw it I became totally engrossed laughing and crying and feeling along with the characters because me and my friends were them.

Their hair, clothes and speech were outdated but the emotions and the desperation of each situation were so familiar! I remember thinking how real it was and how I wished that they would make movies like that still.

In fact I saw this movie the night after I had been at a crazy party (not so unlike the one in Jay's house) which had been crashed by what we considered the loser derelicts who hung out on the fringes of our crowd. A world class BS'er and "responsible" mother figure type I identified immediately with Jeanie (I was also the one with a car) although I had a little bit of Madge's insecurities floating around in there too. My best friend was a Deidre and her good friend from childhood was our Annie.

Watching the scene when Jeanie is in school or the one where her and her boyfriend break up and then she is telling Madge how much she loved him felt like conversations and situations I had personally had.

Now at the age of 27 I recently saw the movie again and felt a surge of emotions because it was like watching back a piece of my own youth (though none of my friends died). I think this is a must see for all girls 13 and up.

Shomeshet

As I reach the "backside" of 35 I find myself shaking my head more and more at the sex crazed, drug influenced teens of today. It was great to be reminded that it was just as crazy for me back in my day as it is for teens today. This film drives that point home to the core. If you are a late 70's fan you'll love the film. From KISS-posters to an Angel concert this movie rocks !

Watch for a young Laura Dern. Why they didn't have more songs from the Runaways I'll never know ?

I did have a problem with Randy Quaid's character deflowering a 16 year old girl. While he was away she and her friends have a party that destroys dude's house. The cops come and everything but no mention of all the underage drinking and how these kids got their hands on this stuff.

Foxes belongs right there with Over the Edge, Fast Times, Dazed & Confused, and Kids as one of the all time teen angst flicks.

I say buy it and watch it with your kids and talk about it all.

in waiting

"Foxes" is a serious look at the consequences of growing up too fast in the 1980s. And unlike the teen sex comedies that overshadowed it (Porky's, Fast Times at Ridgement High), the movie holds up well against time.

Its theme of teen angst is as relevant today as it was 25 years ago and Jodie Foster and sk8er boi Scott Baio (remember him?) lead a fine young cast that's well worth watching.

The film follows four Southern California girls as they move through a rootless existence of sex and drugs and devoid of parents. The teens spend their days in and out of school and their nights at parties, concerts, or out on the street. Seldom are they home because instant gratification is a pill, party, or boy away.

But rather than condemning them, the film is sympathetic, blaming absent, uncaring adults for forcing the teens to grow up alone. And the charismatic cast is impossible to dislike.

The film's opening a long and loving pan - sets the tone for what follows. We see the girls asleep at daybreak amid the objects that define teen girlhood, from Twinkies to a picture of a young John Travola, while Donna Summer's "On the Radio" is scored beneath.

From there the movie picks up speed as the girls head off to school and to life. Annie (Runaway rocker Cherie Currie) is the wild child who lives for the next party or pill. Deirdre (Kandice Stroh) is the boy crazy drama queen. Madge (Marlilyn Stroh) is the shy girl in over her head. And Foster is the one with the plan. It's her job to keep this crew together long enough to finish high school while also holding her divorced and desperate man hunting mother in line (Sally Kellerman).

It's an almost impossible job and one that Foster ultimately fails at.

Despite its age, "Foxes" remains a pleasure to watch. Dated hair, clothes, and references to Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill haven't hurt the movie.

The cinematography is simply stunning, with breathtaking filtered shots of the L.A. basin at dawn, dusk and at night. Giorgio Moroder adds a 80s soundtrack featuring the likes of Donna Summer and Janis Ian.

Perhaps the movie's biggest disappointment is that the young stars around Foster never broke out like the casts of "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985) or "Empire Records" (1995). "Foxes" shows why they should have. But perhaps like Bowling for Soup's song "1985," they just hit a wall.

Rko

Adrian Lyne's debut feature ("Indecent Proposal", "9 1/2 Weeks", "Jacob's Ladder" tells a story of four adolescent girls dealing with the conundrums of youth, such as sex, love, drugs, peer pressure and more importantly growing up. Featuring Jodie Foster as Jeanie, the alpha female of the pack, protectively trying to care for her tightly knit group, shielding them from harm. Despite her best intentions each girl has her own paths and at best Jeanie can offer support, but not ultimate solutions to youthful angst and self-destructive tendencies of her crew (especially with the troubled Annie played by Cherie Currie).

Ploddingly plotted Lyne's movie offers a realistic portrayal of teenagers on the verge of adulthood, albeit one as intriguing as watching a reality TV show about four average teenagers talking, drinking, partying and supplying occasional mindful commentaries. Despite an endearing lead in Foster (not helped by distractingly tainted performances of other girls) the movie lazily cruises around Los Angeles through collage of scenes scarcely interconnected with each other. Not the best debut, albeit some promise (essentially regarding Lyne's taste for intriguing shots) hid between the underwritten script and chaotically directed movie (ending with disjointed jumping between a morbid car crash, a wedding and finally an errant soliloquy near a grave). The sleepy score by Giorgio Moroder doesn't help matters, ergo enhancing my incessant focus problem, finding myself drifting away from the movie and its story to think about tomorrow's dinner, unfinished work or dissecting Jodie Foster's movie career...

Sharpbrew

If you want to say that there were girls like this at that time and in that place, that's fine. I know there were and this is a movie about them. But let's not ever say that just because you have little parental supervision and you live in the Valley during the disco era, does not mean that decadence is your only option.

You could choose to pursue academics, school sports or extracurricular activities. You could get a part time job,explore church, do volunteer work or practice a musical instrument. You could be in a committed relationship or listen to classical music.

These girls are choosing the White Trash option. None of their parents are unemployed or living in a trailer.

I always wonder about the hygiene of such kids. It's not like they did a lot of flossing or ate whole foods. They vomited, ate junk food, smoked, drank, did drugs and slept around. Wouldn't their breath reek and their clothes be crusty? Disgusting.

I think it's completely ridiculous to say that this is the way teens of that era were in So Cal. Some were, but plenty weren't.

Having said all that, this movie had grit and that was its' best quality. The street scenes, the freestyle dialog, and the concert footage were real and made an impact. Real people do not live in a polished way, even the educated, and real people do not speak from a script.

Great opening and utilization of Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder music. Also nice use of a climax that would inevitably lead to a permanent change in course for the girls. Actions have consequences. The blonde chick was a train wreck waiting to embrace her fate.

While it's true that the sheer size, commercialism, and heat of the Valley can lead to alienation, it didn't have to be that way. Back then there were plenty of parks, book stores, skating rinks, and single family homes with pools and orange trees. You just had to choose your friends wisely and stay focused on productive pursuits.

the monster

This work is striking in its accurate depiction of teenage life at the time of its execution. Though this is a broad generalization, parents of that time were too self-absorbed to be real parents, and those who were home tended to be far too distracted from the real issues, where their children were concerned.

This film teaches us how to let go, even when it is painful, and does so with a sweet, melancholy, but informed style whereby Foster talks philosophically about feeling the pain of life. I loved that scene. It was my favorite scene in the movie, actually.

The transition from funeral to wedding was meant to show that life does go on, and so must we. Baio's skateboarding through a pack of goons and outrunning them was meant to show us that the troubled times will pass, and we are meant to get through them, to better times.

The whole metaphor of "moving on," and the procession of life, is present throughout the film, and serves to give us hope, in the end.

I like this movie, though I do not watch it often, as it tends to make me melancholy.

It shouldn't be viewed by young children, and probably only those raised in the 1970's-80's would want to.

It rates a 7.4/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Kifer

I have been a Jodie Foster fan ever since we were both kids, from her Disney years. I loved her tomboy antics in films like Candleshoe.

"Foxes" was such a huge departure from all of that.

Where other young female actors of that era turned to sexual puerility disguised as comedy ("Little Darlings", anyone?), Jodie went for a depressing and tragic tale of teens dragged to their demise by the powerful allure of temptation and addiction.

This was not Disney. This was not Porky's. This was not "Halloweed". This was a dark & powerful story of the destruction of young lives. Sadly it's a tale that still plays out on a daily basis all over the country, this film could be replayed (with a current soundtrack) and still be wholly relevant.

It's not the best film ever made, it is tired at some parts, not all the performances are particularly outstanding. But Jodie Foster continued to show her chops as a real adult actor (a trend started when she was very young in Taxi Driver).

7 out of 10 Barky

Ferri - My name

"Foxes" is a great film. The four young actresses Jodie Foster, Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan and Kandice Stroh are wonderful. The song "On the radio" by Donna Summer is lovely. A great film. *****

Saberdragon

I loved Jodi Foster, That chick from The Runaways-Cherie Currie, Scott Baio, Randy Quaid, Demone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Brilliant cast. I truly believe this is the role Jodi should have won the Oscar for, but oddly enough it wasn't even nominated. Not only was this a great work of art, but one with a lesson.... That hitching rides with swinging, middle aged couples who look like rejects from Studio 54 not only proves to be creepy but fatal.

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